You just need one opportunity

Recession can be so bad, particularly for fresh graduates from a Tier-2 or below business schools in India. I would like to share my experience and convey a message to people who become despondent and lose hope. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

My brother completed engineering in computer science program back in June 2006 from a private institute in Jaipur, India. At that time, we knew that in spite of conducive market condition, getting a job from a campus that is not well-known, was going to be an arduous task. My brother accepted this fact.

Towards the end of his engineering program he started exploring opportunities locally. He placed his resume on many job sites, contacted companies directly, and moved to Bangalore, but nothing seemed to be going his way. I was very inquisitive to find out what may be the problem, since he is such a sharp person, but maybe sharpness isn’t enough?,

For the next four months, he could not get job. He came back to Jaipur when he saw a job advertisement in a local newspaper for a software engineering position in a very small company of 10 people. He got through the interview and started working, but had management/business aspirations, and consequently started preparing for business school entrance examination while he was employed there.

He succeeded in the business school entrance examination, CAT, but his score was not competitive enough to get him into a Tier-1 business school in India. My father and I wanted him to continue his engineering job before thinking of joining business school; however, he and my mom were in favor of him getting into business school. It was clearly, a quagmire. Of course, I knew that the situation could only be exacerbated if we enforced our decision and as a result, we left the decision to my brother. Of course, he decided to pursue his MBA and enrolled in one of the business school in Jaipur for 2007-09 MBA program, starting in July 2007.

Time progressed, everything was going well, he was continuing with his MBA and then suddenly a recession started lingering in September 2008. During start of second year, July 2008, many companies planned to visit school throughout the year for the recruitment. Placement from the school seems to be 100% in past few years. However, this became a dream and as year progressed, job scenario started fading out. There were more rumors about companies visiting campus than actual visits. Still, a few companies visited campus in September-November 2008, but their job descriptions did not appeal to my brother. He continue to dream of an improved economy but from my viewpoint in the USA, I knew that things can only go south for at least the next 1.5-2 year, well past the completion of his MBA. As time progressed, companies started pulling out from the original plan and did not visit campus for recruitment. By January 2009, it was pretty clear that it will be a dream comes true if he gets his dream job from campus. Things went exactly like that. He came out of school without a job and that’s where his struggle started.

We had sporadic hot discussions where I advised him to pursue whatever opportunities he finds. He somehow got an offer, in August 2009, from India’s # 2 bank for a sales job, but he was more interested in a Finance/Accounting job. This time, we all pressed him to join but my brother, a zealot about his career, was still thinking about a utopia where everyone will get a dream job. He declined the offer and continued hunting during the time where financial institutes were collapsing, the economy was tanking, recession was widening, and people were losing jobs. But, it seems that something else was waiting for him.

On August 27, 2009, in the morning, he saw a job advertisement in a local newspaper. On that day, he was at my parents’ place, a town 55 miles from Jaipur. He generally sleeps late, gets up late, skims through the newspaper once in a while and continues his job hunting over the internet. On that day, he got up early, browsed the newspaper written in a non-English language, and found a job posting from India’s # 1 software company. He discussed this opportunity with my mom and told her that tomorrow he will call the number mentioned in the advertisement, but my mom advised him to call the number right away. He followed the advice, and called the company to discuss the position.. The next hour, there was a scheduled train from my parents’ location to the interview location, 45 miles away. It seems that things were lining up for my brother. He picked up that train, visited the interview location, and had written test as well as three rounds of interview spread across two days. My parents, along with my brother, already had a plan, irrespective of this fortuitous interview, to visit a religious place (Khatu Shyam Temple) on August 29, 2009.

Unaware of the interview results, he visited a religious place as planned. The next day, he received a call about his selection for the job and a request to undergo training starting September 7, 2009 in Mysore, India. As of the time I am writing this blog, he is currently undergoing 4 weeks training. I wish him all the best for his future endeavors, and salute him for his temperament and exceptional finesse.

People who are looking for jobs need to think that they need only one opportunity. Don’t limit your options, think of the example of my brother who found a job advertisement for India’s #1 software company in a local non-English newspaper. Act fast, think out of the box, stay focused, don’t lose patience and leave the rest to time. One day and one opportunity can change your life. Think that there are jobs out there and you only need one.

Watch out – You may be paying more

Watch out – You may be paying more
You probably just assume that the amount a grocery store item is priced is the amount you pay, right? Wrong.” I assumed the same until I discovered otherwise.
We are oblivious to the fact that the person at the cash register might not be doing the right thing, deliberately or inadvertently. However, my friends, this may be incorrect, keep a tab on your hard-earned money. A few months ago, I decided to take note on what I get charged item-by-item and was surprised to see incorrect charges appear from a local grocery store, on my receipt. Since then, I decided to keep an eye out and ensure that I am paying for what I am getting. The person at cash register always has some or other excuses, giving some or other unconvincing reasons. Keep a close eye; particularly when there is no description about items in your receipt, this is mostly the case when you buy groceries from small shops (deliberately avoiding specific names). Here are some sample instances from a local small shop that I remember:
• One item appeared twice as “Misc” in the receipt. This happened three times in past 3 months.
• The price of one item was charged differently than what was displayed. When detected, the cashier blamed the computer. This happened once since I started monitoring, 3 months ago.
• One item that I did not even buy made into my receipt. This happened twice in past 3 months.
• You also need to watch-out for an expired item.
Unfortunately, I had almost 50% error-rate from a particular store, in past 3 months.
Though such things are unusual in a branded store, can you 100% rule out the possibility? I happened to see inconsistencies between the computer price and the display price. Such inconsistencies are more frequent particularly when the item is on sale – Watch out.
My friends, it is your money. You can use this money for charity, for helping people who are in need. Do not fritter away your hard-earned money.