Swiroset.com

The skies were bluish with puffy cloud pockets scattered everywhere and there was a cool breeze blowing through the city; riding a bike in such a nice environment is a great feeling. I parked my red Honda motorcycle under the great peepul tree (it still stands today in all its glory in the parking lot on the right hand side of the unforgettable Tessar Towers) and took an elevator up to the fifth floor landing. I signed the interview log, mentioned the 10:00 am check-in time, and asked at the front desk for Pavan Bommaraju, the guy from the human resources department I’m supposed to meet.

Minutes later, a glass door swung around and a jovial young person I assumed to be Pavan came out. I had a good feeling about him: just seeing him coming towards me with a sunny smile on his pleasant face. Dressed in a manly combination of white cotton shirt and matching dark gray pants, he filled the entrance hall with the warmth and brightness of a professional who works hard, yet doesn’t forget to smile. I immediately extended my hand to his and shook it confidently.

“Hello, are you Arindam?” Pavan asked, the smile still in place.

“Yes, I am,” I answered.

“I’m Pavan. How are you, Arindam?” Pavan said.

“Hello Pavan. I’m fine. How are you?” I said.

“I’m fine, thank you,” he said, adding, “Arindam, would you be so kind as to wait a bit? It won’t be long before I get back to you.”

“Ah! No problem, Pavan. At your convenience. Please take your time. I can wait,” I told him.

I gave it a little over 15 minutes before it showed up again. I could see that he interviewed several people before me and almost all of them, on average, spent 7-8 minutes in the process with him before being asked to leave, apparently. Only one of them spent a full 20 minutes in the booth with Pavan and seemed like a bright candidate to me, probably fit for some other job. There were still another 2 left when I was finally summoned inside.

A lovely person

Although, it’s a given fact that typically an HR guy keeps the interviewee engaged and excited by asking a few like-minded questions, which quickly “opens up” the interviewee in question for a worthwhile conversation to take off from a balanced keel of give and take. – take association. You take, I give. You give, I take. The feeling is mutual.

In my personal opinion, a human resources officer should, in all circumstances, be calm and formal in the interview process because the goal of any interview is to talk and not just turn it into a boring question and answer session. He/she must be cleverly equipped to know precisely what he/she wants from the interviewees. As far as he knows, some HR people, professionals agreed, end up being stubborn Jacks and Jills, seeking only prepared answers for what their untrained minds are tuned to hear. More often than not, they, due to their critical inertia on their part, mistakenly end up ‘disgruntled’ and ‘discouraged’ with the interviewers. My point here is not to dole out gyaan kitsch, but to try to make a valid point or two. Young HR executives seem easily prone to making snap and half-concluded decisions regarding candidates who might have been wrong for some undeniable reason, but that doesn’t mean they should be thrown out. I sat there in my flesh thinking. Half-hearted ideas like these were taking shape in my stressed mind even as I wanted to remain calm and collected, but it wasn’t entirely possible.

But Pavan Bommaraju seemed thorough, right on point, and was known for his innate professionalism, I found out later at Satyam. He chose his candidates for his interviews wisely and thoroughly enjoyed interviewing them; while at the same time meticulously taking care not to disappoint his top managers when it came to interviewing his selected candidates. Without a doubt, he was conscientious, precise, and diligent, and of course, he never forgot to smile his gregarious and good-natured smile that naturally played on his bright face.

“Arindam, now we come to the last question. I’m sure you know Iridium. We could also talk about Iridium. So, can you tell me something about the new sensation that has broken into the world of mobile satellite connection? And just tell me why what sounds so BIG when Iridium is on the mobile roaming scene Why is it talked about so much these days What’s so interesting about Iridium asked Pavan, the cheerful HR professional at Satyam Computer Services Ltd .

My eyes flickered some more as I found the name ‘Iridium’ which immediately sounded intriguingly familiar. I instantly knew that answering this particular question required me to review the preferential details that I had previously read about somewhere. He was too prepared to answer the best he could. I also found Pavan too eager to listen to him. Then, not forgetting to put a flashy smile on my face, I slowly began with a small description of the potential of such a business in the following terms: “invading the world with new forms of satellite communication and revolutionizing the way we know what communication is” . which, in my opinion, is still in its infancy. Without a doubt, it will forever change the communication dynamics of the world, the world as we know it.”

Our conversation generally bordered on a strong dash of convincing humor and pleasant but persuasive commonalities that we shared. Feeling luckier than usual that day, I went full throttle to ‘impress’ and ‘win’ him to maximum effect with my answers. Fortunately everything worked out for me and he smiled approvingly.

Pavan Bommaraju seemed visibly impressed and my hopes rose a little higher. He then immediately ushered me in for a ‘technical round’ of discussion with a portly man and his youngest member of staff who were at the time seated inside a distant, important-looking booth suitably clad in wooden side panels and clear glass. , in the right corner of the expanding room.

He said excitedly, “I think you should meet GG. Please come over.”

“Sure. Thanks,” I said.

“Very welcome!” Pavan said. And we walked to the cabin of the person he called ‘GG’, with me in tow.

I still remember this: Pavan exhaled with satisfaction after he finished interviewing me and was visibly relieved; as if a great weight had been lifted off him. As for my own thoughts, they were more in line with my desire to come out on top and make a good impression, and right now I’ve moved on to the next rung of the interview process. Taking Pavan’s relief as a sign, I gained a little more confidence and was ready to accept yet another round of questions. As we walked towards the Chief’s hut, I realized that Pavan’s expectations for my potential as a suitable candidate complemented each other and that was the first half of the battle won. And that was a positive sign indeed.

As I followed Pavan to the cabin where the next ‘tech round’ was supposed to take place, my pragmatic sense of observation reached a new level at that moment. Obviously, I observed that a gang of girls, praise heaven! All handsome with fervently perceptive looks on their optimistic faces and resplendent in elegant outfits, glued to their individual computer screens, they were at work. I estimated that almost all of them were human resources personnel. Lucky pavan!

One of them, somewhat thin and well dressed, got up urgently from his seat and went and sat on his neighbor’s desk and began a sensibly silent discussion with her. I immediately recognized the lady in Salwar custom-stitched block print patiala as he knew her well from my college days. She goes by the name: Neetu Scootywali; a posh uptown girl most famous for her repellent aloofness from all that matters by maintaining any social contact or friendly association with known friends or acquaintances who hail from the same town or city in which they lived. I will explain it later. Besides, it won’t do any good to see her face twist into: What is he doing here? Without much ado, I just looked ahead and continued on my way cursing myself with: not to my liking.

Not given to easy distractions, even when there was so much well-groomed grand slam beauty to marvel at and make me proud to belong to Planet Earth, I looked away from the presiding carnival of beauties and calmly shuffled on. my mind focused on the business I had come to attend to. The ‘Judgment Day’ is near!