I have not taken leave of my senses. The title is a saying in Marathi. Simply put it means “If God is there for me He will give me (things) on my bed (platter)! This seems to be the most dearly held value of most of the professionals. I see around me a set of people who have complete clarity of purpose and means. Purpose is lots of money and means is a cushioned job. I recently had a very enlightening experience. I was doing recruitment for vacant spots on my team.
I was amazed to meet the young applicants have a clear idea of salary and perquisites that they were entitled to. I said to myself, “Wow! Aren’t I the lucky one? These guys are positively more dashing than my generation”. I felt half the load get off my shoulder and we touched upon the experience and the competencies grid. This is when the bumpy stretch started. Till then, it was like riding a bike on a freshly done up road. All smooth and clearly marked. The moment we stepped on to skill sets, the ride became bumpy. This is when last held designations became the all important word. Having heard the various responses, I am actually planning to apply for entry into Guinness on behalf of the applicants for creating a record, by describing the nature of their job, responsibilities held and areas of competence in ONE sentence. “madam! I a manager!”, “madam! I bees the supravesor!”, “yes, yes I look after all boys!” AND folks they all want salary in excess of 20 grand, petrol money, cell allowance and anything else that can make the job attractive. “If you give me accommodation in Bandra and Andheri I will join you real fast”….. I have lost it by this time and meekly ask – but what about your current responsibility…. I am looked at as if I have come from alien land…. 2 days is all they need to clear out …. ‘N I have on my hands a set of guys who may not be there 2 days later!
My friend in a similar function with a multi-national company tells me she fares no better!
Having lost hopes in fresh recruitment scenario, I decided to turn to the existing set of people on my team. I worked up a beautiful, selling speech about skill enhancement and taking more responsibility and career growth to make the move spicy enough. My HR man short-listed a set of potentials. Armed with my pearls of wisdom, I settled on the most promising ones and called them for a tête-à-tête. After exchanging all the pleasantries, I decided to get on with the agenda and spelt out the opportunity. The first one, was excited n encouraged me to spell out all the requirements. Then he asks me very cutely, “medam, how much salary?” I was depending on my HR skills to convince him to get into training and eventually get promoted after 3 months. Which meant that raise would happen after 3 months. My star performer walked out, never to return!
The mind boggling part is that they all have either salary slips or offer letter giving them all that they ask for.
I am wondering, whether I need to work on my interviewing skills OR just shut up and hire the guys in an “as is where is” deal…..
My worry is that they do not have faintest clue as to what is expected of a supervisor and how does the role change when one is promoted to a managerial level. Yahan toh hisab simple sa hai. They firmly believe that number of years put in is equal to increased volume is equal to promotion is equal increase in salary. The appeal is simple… “ saab pagar pura nahi padta” … I am not joking. It’s just like the last person on the operations chain. One wonders, how is it that the salary is never enough. I ask them, how about spending as much as you can afford. At the end of this conversation they either think that I am kanjoos or conclude that I am not from this age…
May be I am not, cause I believe in the fact that one should earn their laurels and they believe that effort has nothing to do with what they get. It is all about their needs and wants. My economics teacher taught me long ago that wants are unlimited. No surprises then!
I have lately taken to practicing the song “aamdani atthanni kharcha rupaiyya, …..”
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