Career Advice

A year back I attended a job interview with one of India's top company. The hiring manager and I had a long chat after the interview. He told me generally they do not consider a candidate for interview if he or she has an experience of more than 10 years. In my case I had over 12 years of experience. I asked him then why was I being considered for the job? He said, “They believe that once a person completes 10 years then he or she is already in retirement mode. They will consider someone with higher experience only if he or she can bring something unique to the table and is ready to learn new things”. I didn't get the job but the hiring manager had indicated to me where I need to work on to get hired. Next one year I just kept on developing new skills in the area of my interest. Finally I started getting multiple offers. 

Reason for writing this blog is not to boast about myself. But it is to address the grave reality that most of us are facing today. There are hardly any jobs getting created in organized sector of the economy. So fresher’s are struggling for entry and experienced people are struggling to keep their jobs. After working for close to 13 years I have few learnings which I am sharing here

1. In today's world the concept of permanent employment is over. Our parents worked till age of 60 which may not be possible in our generation. We are entering into era of contract employment famously known as Gig economy. So plan your future accordingly. 

2. We have huge number of youngsters entering job market every year. So old will be forced to make way for the young. Retirement at top IT companies have been brought down to 55 years. It may go down further in coming years. Or we have to start creating 2 crore jobs every year for next 5-10 years. 

3. Start planning for retirement on the day you start working. Save money and if you have to work for a pay cheque after 35 then it's not a good situation. Learn to live within your means. 

4. Continuously keep on learning new things. The era of management is over. Now a days companies expect everyone to work. So being hands on is better than being a manager. When times are bad managers are fired first. So the mantra is learn unlearn and relearn. 

5. Research shows India will be one of the only major economy where wages may not go up in coming decade. This is due to availability of cheap and talented man power. 

6. If somebody is ready to learn new skills and has mental and physical fitness, then he or she can have exponential career growth. Your education doesn't end with college degree, in fact it should start after finishing college. 

7. Don't work for building a career or for getting a job title. Work towards financial independence. Once you stop working for money your career growth starts. You can then focus on doing what you love. Don't aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference. 

8. Doing the same task for 10 years is not 10 years of experience. Your experience can be valuable only if you try out something new every year. Doing new things keeps our brains plastic and receptive to change.

9. it’s not important where you work but what matters is what you work on. Today one gets paid as per one's skill sets and not by number of years of experience. Don't choose a job but choose a boss. An insecure boss will never allow you to grow. But a competent boss will provide you with opportunity to learn and grow. 

10. Always prepare for worst things like bad health, bad manager, and death of a near one or bad relationship. These things can derail you emotionally, financially and physically. Only your faith and internal strength can bail you out in such situations. Falling in life is a given but getting up again needs courage.

11. Understanding and accepting that life is unfair is first step towards progress. Learn to accept failure and rejection. Anyone can succeed when things go in their favor. Only the people who have failed several times can succeed and sustain. All the No’s, insults and rejections should be taken as motivation and challenge to make progress. I will finish it with one of my favorite quote "If you do more than what you are paid for, then a day will come when you are paid much more than what you do"-Napoleon Hill