That’s the advantage of technology that job seekers of today should leverage

Date: 31-Jul-2010

Rigorous Journey Towards My First Job:

My job hunt began in the third year of my under graduation which was the year 2005 and the thought of having a job offer only in third year was genuinely exciting. All of us were driven to prove our mettle, zeal and raw talent to the industry as soon as we graduate and it was really a matter of pride to be selected in campus recruitments.

The first ever campus recruitment process that I went through was HCL’s, it was really an exciting day and there were a lot of apprehensions about the whole process. It all started with approximately an hour long math test which I thought was one of my strengths, but I failed abysmally as I ended up spending a lot of time on certain questions which left me no time to even complete the test. This meant that I could not have made it into the interview sessions, which was deeply disappointing. Also since it was my first one ever, the turn of events did not really help preserve my confidence but there was a slight hope for the upcoming recruitment drives in my college and off-campus.

Next one was an Accenture off-campus event, where my already shaken confidence levels and the fear of failure got the better off me and this time too I failed miserably not being able to reach interview rounds yet again. The reason was same as last one, TIME MIS-MANAGEMENT.  But something extraordinary hit me after this drive and I began to take every test as an opportunity to discover my weaknesses and work on them simultaneously sharpening my strengths. Although, my losing streak continued for about 5 more companies which could be considered dream companies to work for, but after every test I went back to the drawing board and prepared a list of vulnerabilities in my arsenal and charted out a battle plan to weed them out and face the next test with brutal resistance.

 I also developed a time-training routine in which I invested 6 hours daily practicing test problems in the most stringent time constraints and with different levels of physical discomfort like hunger, full stomach, pain, heat, day and night. I felt like a soldier who has had a lot of defeats and dejections but the sheer fighter spirit within him pushes him further beyond his limits, I trained like a soldier for almost 5 weeks locking myself in my room to cut out all distractions. I had committed myself to one and only aim.

The sun finally shone on me as my efforts paid off culminating in my cracking the Syntel written tests with near perfect timing in every round. Once this hurdle was overcome, the next big gear-up was to be done for the interview process which was again an unknown, but since communication skills were always my forte, I did not perceive interviews as big threats. I can still hazily remember the day of my interview with Syntel, I had been done with the technical round without a hitch and I was waiting for the HR round to begin. I would say that was probably the longest wait for me even though it was actually 15 minutes, but those 15 minutes felt like ages.

 A lot of unfounded apprehensions were racing across my mind at a million miles per second and I was trying to brush them aside when I was asked to walk in for the HR round. The round probably lasted for about 10 minutes, of which I only remember the last question and the answer that I gave. I was asked, “What has been your best moment of life so far?” I thought for a couple of seconds and replied, “This moment right here being able to sit down and have a chat with you I would consider the best moment of my life so far”. I saw a smile on the interviewer’s face and at that moment I thought that I nailed it. Needless to say, I was selected for Syntel.

My Advice To First Job Seekers:

The important thing that I learnt throughout this process was that it’s not actually as much about a person’s ability to succeed as it is about the ability to absorb failures, get back on the feet and hit back harder.

• Whenever something goes spiraling down, weigh all the options but failure and do whatever it takes to win and succeed. 
• The right tools needed to achieve the goal is also an important factor; Internet for instance is easily available and comes in as a master tool for job hunts.
• Job search has to be done in a systematic way planning every step in details and this is where great centralized websites like Rangrut.com play a pivotal role.

 My job search was fairly restricted as this kind of an option was not available and accessible then but that’s the advantage of technology that job seekers of today should leverage.

•  Planning and perseverance can win the day for you in the most astonishing ways.
• Mistakes and failures are definitely stepping stones to success only if one can learn from them rather than sit and brood over them.
• Losing itself does not make anyone a loser but quitting surely does and the most magnanimous success stories have been penned down by those who kept bouncing back and believed that “FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION”.

Note : If you have anything interesting to share related to your career e.g. my story, interview tips, news etc. mail it to admin@rangrut.com

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