Last weekend...

Last weekend was a pretty interesting one. I was at a secondary school in Bangalore to participate in the recruitment drive organized by the company I work for. When I reached the venue, early in the morning, very few people had turned up and hence it was amazing walking through the corridors. When I was asked to participate, I was kind of hesitant since Saturday is generally a day of rest and re-charging batteries. However, this visit to this school, brought back so many memories. The blackboards, the dust of the chalk, the wooden desks, the long prayer hall made me nostalgic of those days, those days which I still cherish and shall continue doing so.

I still remember those days, when we used to play football in school. It was amazing that my best friend was always my opponent, since everyone believed that if we played together, then there is no point of playing. We were greatest of friends off the field, but once the game started, we played like rivals. The competetion was amazing as the girls also watched, so proving yourself was very important. There are lots of small and large memories that came across my mind, most of them are sweet, a few not so sweet ones as well. I was in my world of my own, focussed on the memories while my eyes were rolling over four small kids playing football in the ground, when I was brought back to reality by a colleague of mine. The first candidate was waiting for me with his aspirations.

As I scanned & interviewed over 20 candidates, my eyes often rolled out through the windows in the school's playground, bringing back memories of my school days. However, I had to pull back myself since I was interviewing candidates who are looking to build their career with our company. So I focussed on the job and tried to evaluate them to the best of my abilities. I often got a little frustrated but also at times got excited. Frustration was due to the futile attempt some candidates make to prove something, they aren't sure. They fail to accept that they are not qualified. Some are overconfident, some are desperate, some have a communication problem, some are less in confidence, and few even get angry when they are told so. I often wonder why people are so very uncomfortable to take feedback.

So if I list down, the way to improve ourselves, the way to achieve success is two fold. We need to enrich knowledge, not required to know everything, but you should know what you know. Know it all about few things instead of knowing everything superficially. However, it's nice to be aware of possibilities, but then you should have a ground where you can stand strong and firm. I tried my best to explain to all those candidates what they needed to do to prove themselves, however some took it sportingly, others look cynical. I guess I did my part of the bargain, the other part is for them to pick up. I ended up recommending only 3 candidates, out of which 2 were offerred a job. I hope they join. They are so high in contrast. One is academically superior while the other is academically wierd and may be by some standards unacceptable. However, what matters is knowledge and I believe all 3 had the same.

We ended the evenigs over a get-together of the panel and spent some together. It was nice to spend time together talking about experiences, talking about interesting candidates, and bring an end to the two grilling days surviving on veggie Pizzas, thanks to the bird flu. However, the feeling of back in school was amazing and brought back some beautiful memories which gathered dust due to the hard reality of my present life and things around it.

Soumen